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Oramac: Own Your Shit - This is War Eternal

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Welcome to this Challenge! The theme here is "finding myself", so to speak, and is inspired by two different things:

1. My improv lessons! The instructor called the last class "Own your Shit", which meant whatever you said, it was the exact right damn thing to say and it's exactly what was supposed to be said. You did right. Period. This was an entirely new concept to me, and really hit home, even outside of classes. I am who I am. Own my shit.

2. A song called War Eternal by Arch Enemy. The lyrics are here if you're not so hot at catching metal lyrics. But the basic premise of the song is that line, "Search deep inside, remember who you are". Know thyself, as it were.

So this challenge doesn't exactly have goals, per se. The real "goal" here is to decide what I want to be doing long term. I've started to "come out of my shell", so to speak, and now I've got a lot of things on my plate taking up time. Time that I don't necessarily have to give. So, I'm going to list some things out that I'm looking at doing/not doing. I'll be adding/updating this list since I'm positive I'll forget something.

Improv: this is definitely staying. Partially because I've already signed up for the next class session, but mostly because I feel like this was the major catalyst that brought about this entire thought process I'm having in the first place.

Gym/Lifting: This is most likely staying, as it has been an excellent form of stress relief, though depending on what other things are kept/discarded, it may be cut back to 2 days per week instead of three.

Tough Mudders: I'm already committed to 4 of these this year, so they're staying. The good thing here is they they're basically once per month for the next 6 months (minus July). So it's fairly easy to schedule around.

World of Warcraft: This has been neglected more and more recently. I still want to play, but it just seems like I'm prioritizing other things more and more. That said, I'm using in-game gold to pay the monthly cost, so it's basically free until/unless I run out of gold.

D&D: I've got two games running now, one that I'm DMing and one I'm playing. Tuesday/Wednesday Adventurer's League has basically gone by the wayside. I haven't shown up to it in almost three months now. That said, I definitely still want to play. I've even heard rumblings that some of the Improv students want to start a game, which would be really cool.

Martial Arts: See spoiler. All Monks are asked to add their two cents to this one, please!

So I went to a martial arts class tonight. It was a free trial offer class that I signed up for on a whim. Unfortunately, my scatterbrain means I signed up for it to be on the same night as the improv show I've been going to see.

Bad Oramac. Anyway, I'm now debating on whether or not to continue with it. So here's a list! Because those are fun.

- It's $100 a month, on top of the $35 a month I'm already paying for my gym membership

- Doing this would mean at the very least Monday-Thursday are spoken for every week, no questions. (Class Mon/Wed, gym Tues/Thur)

- There's no "beginner's class". This is really disappointing to me. I feel like I'm detracting from the other students ability to learn because I'm basically fucking everything up.

- The classes are back-to-back-to-back. This is good and bad. Easy to plan for, but it's a LOT of information inside 3 hours. Like, my brain almost exploded, I think.

Overall, I think it was a really cool experience, and it would definitely let me train with my karambit, which is something I really want to do, but I'm just not sure I want/should take the plunge right now.

So there you have it. I need to own my shit, and win the War Eternal. Learn and remember who I am. Then own it, and apply it. Embrace it. Don't take any crap about it.

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Following. Don't worry about there not being a beginner's class. You are not detracting from the other students' ability to learn. If they wanted to have a separate class for beginners, they would have scheduled one.

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Dang you're a busy dude!! And all the swearing I fucking love swearing!!! Here for the stuff, very interested in the improv! I've been told it's a really spiritual experience. Super cool! I hope everything brings you a bit closer

A few thoughts on MA stuff, with a list! Cause obvi lists are boss.

Spoiler

- No beginners class is really good for everyone! It's common in the lineage (I come from the Ip Man line too, Bruce Lee's teacher). The idea is that beginners learn from advanced students, and advanced students learn A TON from working with beginners. It prepares them to instruct, and throws all sorts of variables at them they they have to deal with. I can immediately tell the difference between advanced practitioners that have, and have not, worked directly with beginners.

- The first days and weeks are total overload, but you don't have to remember everything. It's really just time to get used to movements and routine and protocol or ceremony. Honestly those first few days aren't much of a gauge for what the experience is really like since you're still acclimating.

- Convenient or no, it's a plunge alright! Lots and lots of time, and for sure moneys. That's the reality of that kind of commitment, you just don't get as much out of unless you can really devote the time and attention. Always worth exploring IMO, if the interest is there, even for a month or so to feel out whether or not it really is something you want to commit to.

You are really really close to talking me into an improv class. If I can find one in the suburbs, I may give it a go over the summer. Ya know- because I don't have enough stuff on my spinning plates already!

You are really really close to talking me into an improv class. If I can find one in the suburbs, I may give it a go over the summer. Ya know- because I don't have enough stuff on my spinning plates already!

HEY BUDDY!!! Welcome to the madness!

You should totally take the class!! It's only ONE more plate! I'm sure it'll be fine! And it's all kinds of fun. Just mentally commit to it 100% and I guarantee you'll love it.

7 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

Love your challenge set up this time! Can't wait to see how well you do figuring out your place.

But secretly, I'm in because I'm waiting for you to schedule some time with the trainer and looking forward to the outcome.

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Also, because I'm always curious, whoever listened to the song in the OP, please say so. And if you actually liked it, say that too!

I did, and I did. At first I scrolled past, the image that shows before you play the video gave me the impression it'd be rather more symphonic metal, which isn't really my jam, but curiosity got the better of me. Turns out it was somewhat more my jam, though still not my first love (I like a little less guitar solo, and a little more anger). Question, though: is that the actual singer? 'Cuz I was not expecting the voice...

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I did, and I did. At first I scrolled past, the image that shows before you play the video gave me the impression it'd be rather more symphonic metal, which isn't really my jam, but curiosity got the better of me. Turns out it was somewhat more my jam, though still not my first love (I like a little less guitar solo, and a little more anger). Question, though: is that the actual singer? 'Cuz I was not expecting the voice...

Good to know! And yes, she is actually the singer. Your reaction is not uncommon (and was my initial reaction too). Here's a live version.

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I gave the vid a whirl. I like hard rock, and a teeny bit of metal, but I have to be in the right mood for it. Please tell me you have heard of Hevisaurus? Norwegian, Heavy Metal Dinosaur Kid's Band. Yeah. I just said those words all together.

Tank! Have you heard of/like Kamelot? I don't know what sub-category of metal this falls under. I label this kind of stuff as 'fantasy metal' because it always lends well for pairing up with some high fantasy adventure in my brain.

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I actually love metal, but not really the vocals (see: Karma to Burn or Animals As Leaders).

I have heard AAL. Not my favorite, but they're definitely good.

3 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Sabaton, on the other hand, is right up my alley.

I have not heard of them. I will look into it!

2 hours ago, Starpuck said:

I gave the vid a whirl. I like hard rock, and a teeny bit of metal, but I have to be in the right mood for it. Please tell me you have heard of Hevisaurus? Norwegian, Heavy Metal Dinosaur Kid's Band. Yeah. I just said those words all together.

That sounds fantastic! I will definitely check it out.

2 hours ago, Starpuck said:

Tank! Have you heard of/like Kamelot? I don't know what sub-category of metal this falls under. I label this kind of stuff as 'fantasy metal' because it always lends well for pairing up with some high fantasy adventure in my brain.

2 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I had not, but they sound great. I'll look into it some more.

This is a sub-genre called Symphonic Metal. I love it. Interestingly, Alissa White-Gluz, the singer in the video I posted, sang for Kamelot in one of their songs as well. Should be easy to find on Youtube.

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Following. Don't worry about there not being a beginner's class. You are not detracting from the other students' ability to learn. If they wanted to have a separate class for beginners, they would have scheduled one.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^this

I used to train in and eventally taught Kung fu. We had everyone together, except the intermediate students had longer classes that went on after the beginners left.

Anyway, the more advanced students can benefit from having beginners around because the fuck shit up, they don't exactly know their part, so the more experienced have to adapt and be more flexible. Plus, some of them may want to progress to master/teacher level so they might value the experience of helping someone figure it out.

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News. So it seems that until I can afford and schedule a training session, I'm going to be skipping leg day. This makes me quite sad. I went to the gym and started with Hack Squats, since those never really bothered me before. Sadly, they bothered me this time. Not a ton, but enough that I wasn't comfortable continuing.

I'm going to basically replace leg day with Cardio Day. Which is to say, on my normal leg day I'm going to do my distance run/walks.

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I listened to to video and while the music was good I need actual singing with my screaming. Kamelot and Epica are amazing! Two of my favorite groups though I'm sad that Roy Khan left Kamelot because I really miss his voice, the replacement isn't as good. I wanted to like Within Temptation but couldn't. I think the singer had too much of an 80's hair band voice which I can't stand. A friend sent me a video a while back that would fall under Symphonic Metal...I'll have to find it and share

6 hours ago, Oramac said:

Interestingly, Alissa White-Gluz, the singer in the video I posted, sang for Kamelot in one of their songs as well. Should be easy to find on Youtube.

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Can't really disagree. Arch Enemy is a band I like in small doses. You might like something along the lines of early In This Moment.

This song.

I'll have to check them out and that Kamelot song since I don't think I've heard it (thought it's after Roy Khan left so I might just be a little sad ) when I can listen to them since we're currently wrapping up a gaming session.

4 minutes ago, Oramac said:

Good music! I'm not a huge fan of the spoken story parts of the song, but overall I really like the style.

I'm weird and usually couldn't care less about lyrics as long as I like the music and voice. Hubs laughs at me because I have no idea what most songs are about

I'm weird and usually couldn't care less about lyrics as long as I like the music and voice. Hubs laughs at me because I have no idea what most songs are about

I'm exactly the opposite. I care almost more about the lyrics than the music. Which isn't to say I want bad music, but I'm willing to settle for mediocre music if the lyrics are particularly meaningful.